Connection devices for optical fiber cables are used in particular for making up buried long distance lines where cable segments of determined length are united end-to-end.
Each connection device is housed in a sealed protective box which is generally filled with a gas under pressure to prevent dust penetrating into the box.
One of the difficulties encountered in designing such connection devices lies in organizing the various optical fibers of each cable, since each fiber needs to be connected individually to a fiber of another cable.
A connection device for optical fiber cables is already known in which the fibers are connected together in pairs by means of a splice and each pair of fibers made in this way is coiled and then housed in a cassette, thereby preventing the pairs of fibers from tangling with one another.
More precisely, in that known device, the optical fibers are connected together in pairs by means of individual splices which are grouped together side by side in one or more cassettes.
The reserve lengths of fiber which are necessary for making splices are then coiled and secured in the cassette(s) in the immediate vicinity of the splices, firstly to prevent them from tangling with one another, and secondly to keep control over their radius of curvature.
In that prior device, each fiber must be of determined length before the splicing operation so that in the final position of the splice in the cassette, the fiber loops can be positioned and secured in ordered manner. That constitutes a first difficulty in implementing the device.
In addition, in order to repair a splice or to interchange two splices, it is necessary to gain access to the inside of the or each cassette concerned, to release the fiber loops, and to change the lengths thereof as a function of the new organization for the splices after action has been taken. Those operations are thus particularly lengthy and difficult.